The Investigator's Influence
by Shelly Lane
Summary: We all know Basil made a difference in 1897, but what about in the next century? A teenage mouse living in 1998 gets the chance to find out more about Basil and his own family history. Credits to Disney, Titus, and FairyTales And Pixie Dust. Reference to BBC, the TV show "Criminal Minds," and Shakespeare. Probably my last GMD story for a while, so "Goodbye So Soon" to all.
1. A Harsh Sentence

**A Harsh Sentence**

I tried unsuccessfully to ignore the handcuffs around my wrists. I honestly didn't know which was worse, the idea of going to jail or the humiliation of knowing my friends would see it all over the evening news.

"As this is his first offense," one of the police officers was telling my mother, "we can let him off with a stern warning."

"Oh, thank you, ma'am!" my mother replied. "I assure you he will face consequences for his actions, and he will never do anything like this again!"

To my relief, the handcuffs were unlocked. The police had a few words for me, but that was nothing compared to the sermon I got as soon as I got back home.

"You almost went to _jail_!" Mother scolded. "You want to know what life's like in prison, do you? Fine with me! You will stay in your room unless I say you may come out! You will not have the chance to visit with your friends! You will be escorted everywhere you go!"

I ignored her speech. She was mad, but she wasn't unreasonable. Surely she didn't mean half of what she was saying.

When I woke up the next day, I went downstairs to watch the Saturday morning cartoons.

"No, you don't!" Mother turned off the TV. "Back to your room!"

"Isn't this kind of harsh?" I asked.

"You haven't seen 'harsh' yet!"

I had to stay in my room for the rest of the day. When Mother brought me meals, they were tasteless and bland, not at all like what she usually cooks.

"Consider this prison food," she remarked.

I've been grounded before, but this was overkill. You can't confine someone to their room all day and bring them disgusting food. That's definitely over the line. It isn't right at all. Besides, I didn't deserve this!

At the end of the day, Mother had an announcement. "I think it would be a positive experience for you to find another outlet and make friends that aren't in the process of building their criminal records, so I have decided to let you participate in community theater! They're having children and young adults audition for a coming performance!"

"No thanks," I answered.

"Too bad!"

Two hours later, I was taken to a theater. A lizard met me at the door.

"Are you here for the audition?" she asked sweetly.

"Against my will!" I replied.

"Yes, he's here to audition," my mother responded, "and he's not going to give you any trouble, and he would be thrilled to be a part of this coming production!" She glared at me. "Right?!"

"Yeah," I muttered.

I sat in one of the seats in the auditorium. A rat was onstage.

"Go up there so I can hear you two read the script together," the lizard instructed.

I was handed a script as I stood beside the rat.

"Take it from the top!"

"'For years, that insufferable pipsqueak has interfered with my plans!'" the rat read from his script, "'I haven't had a moment's peace of mind! But all that's in the past! This time, nothing, not even Basil can stand in my way! All will bow before me!'"

"Basil?!" I exclaimed. "This is about him?!" I threw down my script in disgust. "Not that idiot! It's all I ever hear the Ancients talk about! Basil did this! Basil used to do that! Who gives a rat's ears about Basil of Baker Street?! The guy died decades before any of us were born! It's not like anything he did is important in modern society! He never influenced my personal life!"

"I beg your pardon," the rat whispered. "Did you just say, 'Who gives a rat's ears'? I don't know if you're aware of this, and I hate to nitpick, but that expression's kind of hurtful, and…"

The lizard, who I assumed was the director, rose from her seat and applauded.

"Young man, that was very emotionally egocentric, and until your display of temper, you acted as if you couldn't care less about what was happening," she stated. "I believe you'll be perfect for the role!"

"Joy!" I exclaimed sarcastically.

"You get to be the main character!" She turned to the rat. "I noticed the way you took it when he used the rat expression. I like the way you two interact, the apparent anger you unintentionally cause in each other. You get to be the professor." She cleared her throat. "But I expect personal differences and disagreements to be set aside for the sake of the performance! You must learn to respect each other in a professional manner, even if you have no time for each other on a personal note."

"Yes, ma'am," the rat answered.

"Yeah, sure," I muttered.


	2. Who Cares About Fish?

**Who Cares About Fish?**

Mother insisted on visiting her great-grandfather to give him the news.

"Barrie is going to be in community theater!" she began.

I rolled my eyes.

"He's going to be in the performance, and he gets the part of Basil!"

My great-great-grandfather chuckled. "Basil?! You finally took an interest in him, Barrie?!" He tousled my hair. "Mum and Dad would have been proud!"

Allow me to explain. Great-great-grandfather is literally a hundred years old. His younger brothers and sisters are in their nineties. That's why I call them "the Ancients."

When they were young children, they knew Basil. I don't know how they met him or anything like that, but they talk about him almost all the time. It's enough to drive anyone crazy!

"Uncle Bartholomew would have liked to see you perform!" Great-great-grandfather continued. "He used to be able to do pretty good impressions of Basil."

"Did he ever do Basil impressions for you?" I asked.

"He died before I was born. He was killed in June, and I was born the following May."

"Then how do you know…?"

"My parents told me, and so did Aunt Fish." He chuckled. "Everyone thought Aunt Fish couldn't speak, but she sure had them fooled! She could be quite talkative when she wanted!"

"What kind of parents name their baby 'Fish'?!"

"Well, when I was just a baby, and I was saying my first words, I couldn't pronounce 'Felicia,' so I called her 'Fish,' and the name stuck. She was highly unusual for a cat, very patient and understanding, always affectionate, but when she got upset with us…!" He chuckled. "Aunt Fish would never have harmed any of us, but she had ways of making sure we behaved! But I guess she had to. If any of the humans had found out there were young mice around…"

I frowned. "Did you just say your aunt was a cat?"

"She was! Uncle Bartholomew always treated her like his younger sister, so that made her my aunt."

I have a strange family. According to the Ancients, this Bartholomew guy was a mouse. Felicia was apparently a cat whose best friend was a dog that the Ancients also claim as their "uncle." Furthermore, dogs and cats aren't supposed to talk in the presence of mice, but this "Toby" and "Felicia" apparently made an exception for Great-great-grandfather and his siblings.

Can another family adopt me? Please? All I want is to have a family of normal mice!


	3. I Hate Ratigan

**I Hate Ratigan**

"Oh, my dear Bartholomew! I'm afraid that you've gone and upset me! You know what happens when someone upsets me!"

"Excellent work, Vince," the director complimented, "but try to make it more dramatic. It's okay to overact this scene."

Vince nodded and tried his lines again.

"You're not sounding evil," I informed him after practice.

"I just don't feel it," he confessed. "I'm pretending to kill a guy for saying the word 'rat.' So what if I'm a rat? No offense, Barrie, but it's a proven fact that rats are stronger, more agile, and smarter than mice. What's wrong with being a rat?"

"Nothing at all in real life," I admitted, "but during the time when this story takes place, rats had a bad reputation as being savage and cruel. Besides, I think the real Professor Ratigan was actually adopted by mice, and his peers teased him about being different."

"You're really smart! It's a good thing you get to play Basil."

"Not for me!" I argued. "My great-great-grandfather went off the deep end! As soon as he heard what role I had, he started talking about some idiot named 'Uncle Bartholomew.'"

"Like the guy I feed to the cat?"

"Yeah. Like the guy you…" I frowned. "What's the cat's name again?"

"I think it's 'Felicia' or something like that!"

"Oh great!"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I lied.

When I got home, I asked my mother, "Did Great-great-grandfather's uncle get eaten by a cat?"

"You mean Bartholomew? Yes, he did," she answered.

"The same cat that came to be known as 'Aunt Fish'?"

She nodded. "Felicia would have eaten your great-great-grandfather's parents too if Basil hadn't saved their lives."

"What do you mean?"

"Two of Ratigan's henchmen worked for him by force rather than choice. One was Bartholomew's sister, and the other was a gentleman who had been taken hostage after witnessing one of Ratigan's crimes. Neither of them wanted to do wrong, but they knew the penalty for disobeying Ratigan. Basil rescued them, and they had the chance to turn their lives around. The gentleman became one of the queen's favorite guards, and he married Bartholomew's sister. They had their first child in May of 1898."

"Then how did Felicia get to be…?"

"She had a lot of work to do reforming her life after Ratigan died, but she eventually succeeded. She worked with Basil's dog." Mother smiled. "From what I've heard, the two of them became nearly inseparable friends."

"Why did she kill Bartholomew if the two of them used to be…?"

"Ratigan always had his way. He forced Bartholomew into alcoholism so he could force Felicia into a life of crime." She began folding laundry. "Did I ever tell you that you might have been rich if it hadn't been for Ratigan? Bartholomew's sister was the only member of his family to survive. Ratigan murdered the others so he could seize their fortune. They were quite wealthy."

"You mean we might be millionaires if it wasn't for Ratigan?!"

"Now you see why your father and I take it so seriously when you and your friends try breaking into houses or vandalizing property. We don't want you to grow up and become a criminal, not after what happened years ago. Your family members, albeit distant family, were killed or forced into a life of crime. We want better for you."

For the first time ever, I actually had a slight interest in my script. I took it off the shelf and silently read through my lines.


	4. The MMC Mystery

**The MMC Mystery**

Mother gave me permission to go see Vince. He had said there was "some show coming on the MMC that might really help us out."

When I got to his flat, Vince grinned.

"Hi, Barrie! Glad you could come! Mum was surprised when I asked if we could watch the show. She asked, 'Since when did you become interested in the Mousedom Media Company?'"

"Nice to see you, Basil!" Vince's mother teased. "From what Vincent says, we're all going to jail!"

I tried to answer like Basil would have. "That, madame, is for the police to decide."

"Perhaps you can be bribed." She brought us a plate of brownies. "Enjoy the program, boys."

"Thanks, Mum!" Vince replied.

"Yes," I agreed. "Thank you, ma'am."

Vince adjusted the volume of the TV and flipped through the channels until he had the right one.

"Tonight on _World's Greatest Criminal Minds_," the announcer began, "discover what truly happened to the most notorious felon in Mousedom, Professor Padraic Ratigan!"

The TV began to show certain individuals, one at a time in different places rather than all together in the same room.

"He fell to his death," stated a police officer, who was apparently a guest or consultant on the show. "There was no way anyone, even a genius, could have survived a fall from Big Ben. The idea is ludicrous."

"He survived the fall," another argued. "Detective Basil of Baker Street investigated the scene of Ratigan's alleged demise, and he concluded that the criminal mastermind survived the fall completely unscathed, but Ratigan was never seen or heard from again. My theory is that the rat went into hiding and spent the rest of his life as a regular citizen."

"The professor was very clever," an investigator remarked. "There is no doubt in my mind that he already had a plan that would enable him to survive what would have been certain death for anyone else. After he fell, Padraic Ratigan was still alive, and he returned to his life of crime. That's how he was. That was his sole mission in life."

"I was a criminal for many years before I reformed my life," an old man commented. "I studied all the greats, their secrets, their history, and anything else you can imagine. Let me tell you what happened to Ratigan: They threw his sorry hide in jail, let him rot, and kept quiet about the whole ordeal. Either that, or one of his own men shot him, and no one bothered to prosecute the killer. This whole idea of the rat falling from Big Ben is no more realistic than flying unicorns."

The documentary explored each possibility, presenting evidence both for and against each argument. However, at the end, the narrator had a final story.

"If the cat did indeed manage to survive the attack by the royal guard dogs, she might have been at the foot of the most famous clock in the world, just as Ratigan was beginning to fall," he announced.

"She wouldn't have done it," the police officer stated when the camera was on him again. "He fed her well. She was the only thing he ever truly cared about. Felicia would never have eaten Ratigan."

"There is evidence that Ratigan was not always the ideal pet owner," a historian remarked. "He taught her to have no feelings of guilt, so betrayal wouldn't have bothered her in the least, especially not after he'd been unkind to her. You also have to remember that she had been chased into the dogs' enclosure when Ratigan's plan backfired, so there would be feelings of vengeance, and she would be experiencing the bad temper and irrational thinking that so often accompany physical pain. If she had been there and he had survived the fall, she wouldn't have thought twice about killing him."

The conclusion about what happened after Ratigan fell from Big Ben? No one really knows! It happened so long ago that there's no way to prove anything anymore because everyone who was there is dead by now!

"How frustrating!" Vince exclaimed, shutting off the TV. "We spent an entire hour watching this, and all we found out was that no one knows what happened to Ratigan! I thought for sure this would help us with our roles!"

"Did you catch what they're showing next week?" I asked. "It's about one of Ratigan's men."

"'Muricide' or something like that," answered Vince. "They're probably going to say they don't know what happened to him either!"

I nodded.

"Hey! Want to play Clue?"

I laughed. "Sure!"

Vince was too polite to laugh when I lost miserably.

"How are we going to do it?" he inquired.

"Do what?"

"You know, the death scenes!" Vince frowned. "Barrie, I can't pretend to kill you, especially not in front of an audience! I've never harmed anyone!"

"It's just community theater," I reminded him. "We just pretend a lot of stuff, and no one really gets hurt."

"But I can't be mean to you!" he argued. "You're a good friend, Barrie!"

His words stunned me. I'd had friends before, the kind of friends that had taught me slang and offered me beer and cigarettes, but I'd never had the kind of friend that Vince was.

"They say the real Basil and Ratigan used to be best friends when they were our age," I remarked. "It must have been hard for them to be enemies for the rest of their lives."

He nodded thoughtfully and changed the subject. "Did I ever tell you that someone in my family met Basil once? One of my ancestor's cousins was the ambassador of Ratdom."

I didn't tell him that one of my ancestors was the guard who brought Basil before Queen Moustoria to be thanked.

It's driving me crazy though; I have to know what happened to Professor Ratigan!


	5. Dance Rehearsal

**Dance Rehearsal**

She sat and clutched her ankle, silently biting her lip to keep from crying out.

"Are you alright?" the director asked.

"I think I broke my ankle!"

"Let me see." The director checked the injured ankle. "I don't think it's broken. You just have a really bad sprain."

"But now I can't be in the performance since I can't dance!"

"We'll solve that problem, dear." The director turned to the rest of us. "Would anyone be willing to switch roles with Sarah?"

"I would!" Pixie volunteered.

Sarah gasped. "But you're the queen! How can you give up that role?!"

"Miss Kitty looks like a lot of fun! Besides, Queen Moustoria will be the perfect role for someone with a sprained ankle. You just get carried around the stage by someone pretending to feed you to the cat, and your costume includes a dress long enough that no one would notice if you stood on one foot. You could put your hand on a wall or something to balance. You still get to be an important part of the performance."

She smiled. "Thank you, Pixie."

"Can you dance?" the director asked.

"I'll try," Pixie answered.

"Very well. All of you take a seat in the audience, and we'll run through the scene. Barrie, Pixie, and John, let me see it."

I sat in my chair onstage. This scene was one of the most difficult to perform. John always blushed and covered his face with his hands after saying his lines.

"I'm not that kind of mouse!" he often remarked.

"Neither was the real Dawson," I would reply. "Just say what's in your script and get it over with."

I was looking forward to seeing John in a pirate costume, but I had the feeling I'd die laughing when that day came. After all, the guy was an honor student, the kind that's headed for Oxford to study biochemistry and advanced physics. I was sure he didn't even know the meaning of the word "beer," let alone how to act drugged.

Pixie, on the other hand, was a natural. In real life, she acted like a psychologist or something, always asking what made me hang out with "the wrong crowd" and why I wanted to rebel against society, insisting that "real friends" would make "a positive difference" in my life. However, she knew how to fit her new role, dancing and strutting exactly the way I imagined the real Miss Kitty must have.

John cringed. "I can't do it! She's perfect at her role, and…! She reminds me of a real dancer!"

"That's the point," I stated.

"But I just can't bring myself to…! It's too humiliating!"

I sighed. "It's alright! Everyone knows you don't really mean it! It's community theater, not the real Rat Trap! Just do the stupid dance so we can move on to the next scene!"

John took a deep breath to steady himself. "Okay."

What was with this guy? Hadn't he even suffered the effects of too much caffeine or sugar?

He bowed to Pixie. "Priscilla, right? Okay. We have to dance together. Is there a way we can…?"

She laughed. "You don't have to call me 'Priscilla.' Everyone just calls me 'Pixie.'"

"I don't know how I can dance with you and the other two young ladies without looking like a moron."

"You're supposed to look silly," she gently replied. "That's the whole point of this scene!"

I was grateful that my script directions involved hiding my face because it was all I could do to keep from laughing. No doubt John's intellectual, technology-studying, honor student, soon-to-be famous friends were going to love this! I could see it now. John would be a famous inventor or make an important scientific discovery, and he'd become a millionaire. Someone would interview him on TV, and the first question would be about his dance moves for his community theater debut.

Arthur was the only one who looked worse than John. No bats had auditioned, so the part of Fidget was being played by a mouse with clip-on wings.

"It's so hard to yell at him!" Vince told me. "I feel sorry for Arthur with those stupid fake wings. The poor guy looks ridiculous, and he knows it. I pity him so much that I just can't pretend to be angry with him!"

So far this was nothing like how it must have been in real life: Fidget had no real wings, Ratigan was the nicest guy I'd ever met, Basil had the start of a criminal record, Miss Kitty wanted to be a psychologist and cure everyone's hard life with friendly hugs, Toby and Felicia were nothing but sound effects, Queen Moustoria only became royalty because she sprained her ankle, and Dawson feared public humiliation too much to get involved with fake criminals or anyone pretending to be a burlesque dancer. This was going to be one interesting performance.


	6. Stage Fright

**Stage Fright**

Arthur was trembling when he stepped backstage on opening night.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

"There are real thugs in the audience!" he answered. "You know, guys with piercings and cigarettes and beer, even though smokes and booze aren't allowed in the theater!"

"How someone dresses doesn't necessarily make them…"

"They're holding up a sign that says your name."

I blushed. "Yeah, they're real thugs. They're my…"

"Your friends?" Arthur queried.

"Yeah. My friends that almost got me arrested."

"It gets worse."

"How so?"

"Since this Basil dude was so important, the entire back row of the theater is occupied by the Mousedom police force and every detective agency in London!"

"I have to impersonate a sleuth in front of _them_?! As if going out there in front of my friends isn't bad enough…!"

"That's not the worst part!" added Titus, who was playing Flaversham. "Queen Emousabeth is here!"

"_What?!_"

"Basil saved Queen Moustoria, so I guess Queen Emousabeth wanted to pay tribute to his memory."

Vince looked horrified. "I have to act out a treason scene in front of…?! But I'm her loyal subject!"

As I tried unsuccessfully to control my hyperventilation, I pitied Vince. I pitied all of us, a bunch of adolescents, not one of us old enough to say our age without the word "teen", having to act out such a sordid story in front of important audience members, having to pretend to kill each other after we had become friends through repeated meetings for rehearsals.

"The real Ratigan wasn't much older than you when he committed his first crime," Titus informed Vince.

"_But it's so young!_" I thought.

It was one thing to picture real adults trying to outsmart each other when life and death were the stakes, but imagining that Basil was around my age when he first confronted Ratigan, that someone Vince's age had committed real murder for the first time, that someone barely older than Pixie had performed her first burlesque dance in front of cheering ruffians…

That was when it all became more real to me. How could they have done this? Sure, they all grew up, but how could they have started such lifestyles at their young ages? They should have been laughing with friends and daydreaming about getting rich in the future, not planning to capture each other.

And I was too young for a criminal record! I understood that now! I should be making real friends and starting a foundation to build a good future for myself.

"John's almost finished with his narration," Vince stated, unwittingly interrupting my train of thought. "Are you ready?"

I accepted the mask that he handed me as he wrapped the red robe around my shoulders for my grand entrance.

"Thank you, Vince." I hugged him. "Thank you for everything."

"No problem," he replied. "The director said we're supposed to help each other with costumes."

"It's more than that," I answered. "You saved my life. I never had a real friend before. All of mine were going to send me straight to jail."

"You're getting our roles confused," he joked. "I'm supposed to be the one headed for jail. As for saving your life, you do know I have to kill you at the end of the show, right?"

"You can try!" I joked back. "By the way, congratulations. You finally managed to keep a straight face when you pretended to threaten me. You'll make a good Ratigan."

"We'll talk about it at the cast party that Pixie's hosting at her place. For now, we should hush. Your cue's coming up, and it wouldn't look too good if the star of the show missed his first entrance."

Controlling my anxiety and ignoring the crowd, I managed to act more confident than I felt for my first scene. I pretended no one was in the audience.

As I recited my lines, I realized how easy it was to sound as if I truly hated Ratigan. I was talking about the guy who had killed my ancestor's grandparents, aunts, and uncle. My family might have been rich if it hadn't been for that murderer!

I remembered my personal fight against crime, my resolve not to be a "juvenile delinquent" ever again. I ran it through my mind as I continued my scenes.

John looked genuinely impressed, so I guess I was halfway convincing as Basil. Either that or John had been practicing his facial expressions in the mirror.

"You're a natural!" Vince remarked during intermission.

"As are you," I answered. "The way you fed Frank to the cat was just brutal!"

"Yeah!" Frank added. "I'm suing you for telling your pet sound effect to kill me!"

"I'm sure not looking forward to fighting you later!" I commented.

Vince grinned. "I was thinking about how frustrating it is not knowing what happened to the real Ratigan. You know how the director says to think about other things so we'll feel the emotion our characters are supposed to be feeling."

He turned to Frank. "What was it like pretending to be drunk?"

"Pretty fun!" he answered. "I remembered how my speech sounds when my lips are numb from eating popsicles, and I tried to act carefree like I did the first time I had chamomile tea. That stuff calms you, no matter what the problem is! Of course, I'd never get drunk in real life! My folks would shoot me!"

Standing backstage with them, I started to wonder what the real Bartholomew Ingham would have thought. Would he have been flattered to see someone act like him, just as he often did impressions of Basil? Would he have been ashamed to be remembered only for alcoholism that led to his demise?

What would the real Basil of Baker Street have thought if he could see me? Would he turn in his grave if he knew someone like me was playing his part? Would he be honored that his memory had indirectly helped someone avoid a life of crime? Would he even care?

What about the real Ratigan? The one playing him was a genuinely nice guy. Would Ratigan have appreciated that since he used to be nice too, or would he have hated it since he became so vicious?

Were we representing their story accurately, or were we doing a miserable job? What would they say to us if they were in the audience? And my ancestors, saved from life as Ratigan's henchmen and Felicia's meal…what would they think?

"We're on in thirty seconds or less," John reminded me.

I nodded. "Are you ready to dance?"

"No! The Queen of Mousedom's in the audience! Have you ever appeared in pirate attire and done a humiliating dance in front of the Queen of Mousedom?!"

"Think of the bragging rights you'll have. Not many mice can say they've had a chance to do that," I pointed out. "This is our cue."

The next several scenes were hard on my nerves. John got through his dance number, but then I had to have a heated argument with Vince. I tried to pretend I was arguing with the real Ratigan, but when I looked at him, I saw only my friend. I wondered if the real Basil had ever seen only his childhood friend when he tried to confront his enemy.

Finally, it was over! All I had to do was relax on the fake mousetrap while Vince pretended to gloat. I could tell it was all he could do to keep from apologizing for being so mean, even though it wasn't real. However, he managed to keep his tone of voice cruel and his facial expression joyful.

As I recited the lines leading to my escape from the trap, I hoped my math teacher wasn't in the audience. (I never have been good at equations.) Finally, on to other scenes!

"Arrest that fiend!"

I hoped the police in the audience didn't catch that line. After what had happened a few months ago, it was strange being on the other end of an arrest.

"It's okay," I whispered under my breath as I caught Vince's arm. "Queen Emousabeth knows you aren't really a traitor."

He gave a terse nod.

I was getting less and less successful at pretending this guy was the real Ratigan. Vince was so nervous, not at all like…well, there was no time to think about that. I had to rush backstage and get hooked up to the wires that would allow me to plummet to the ground without getting hurt in the next scene.

Vince's display of fake anger was impressive, but as he pretended to fall to his death, I noticed he looked relieved rather than terrified. I knew why. His scenes were over. He could relax now.

On the other hand, I had to go through the motions of being knighted, and the next scene would be the beginning of another case. There's nothing like kneeling before a fake queen when the real one's in the audience. It's not an experience I'd recommend to anyone.

Cast call at last! We bowed to the audience, the lights came on, and we were finally free. All we had to do now was go stand outside the auditorium and greet our audience.

"I like so totally can't believe that was you, Barrie!" one of my friends remarked. "Like a boss, man! You gonna throw us all in the slammer or what, dude?"

My next visitors were members of the police force, telling me what a good job I'd done playing Mousedom's most famous sleuth.

I was surprised when Queen Emousabeth stood before me. Immediately, I knelt.

"Your Majesty!" I gasped.

"Young man, you have brought great honor to Sir Basil's memory. You are to be commended for a truly remarkable portrayal!"

I don't know how I managed to breathe enough to thank her, but I did. She even complimented Vince, saying it must have taken "great courage for such a courteous young gentleman to depict true immorality before his public."

Finally, Great-great-grandfather came to greet me. "Barrie, I can't tell you how proud my Uncle Bartholomew would have been! Aunt Felicia and Uncle Toby would have loved to have seen this! Mum and Dad would be honored to know you got the role of the one who saved their lives!"

"Basil!"

"David!" Great-great-grandfather embraced his younger brother. "What are you doing here?!"

"Congratulating my nephew!"

I frowned. "You were named after Basil?"

Great-great-grandfather chuckled. "There was a time when over half the baby boys in Mousedom were named after Basil! I was given that name, Mr. Flaversham's first grandson was given that name…"

"He doesn't want to hear that!" my distant uncle interrupted. "He wants to hear what a great job he did!"

Uncle David turned to Vince. "Swell job playing Ratigan! You've done Aunt Fish proud!"

"Who's Aunt Fish?" Vince whispered to me.

"Just take it as a high compliment," I whispered back.

Uncle David shook hands with Frank. "You sure did a good job as Uncle Bartholomew!"

Frank frowned slightly. "Bartholomew Ingham was your uncle, sir?"

"My mother's brother!"

Frank, Vince, Pixie, John, Sarah, Arthur, Titus, and all the others stared at me. I felt myself blush with shame. They had just realized that the guy playing Basil was the distant nephew of the drunk who got fed to the cat. That's not something you'd want to admit.

Great-great-grandfather put a hand on Uncle David's shoulder. "Speaking of which, have you seen Bart lately?"

"He was in the audience with Tori and the other two girls," Uncle David explained.

Allow me to clarify. "Bart" is their brother, named after their uncle. "Tori and the other two girls" are their three sisters. (Aunt Tori's real name is "Moustoria," but they call her "Tori" for short.)

In short, all six of the Ancients had watched me perform! As if the police force, my punk friends, and the Queen of Mousedom in the audience hadn't been bad enough!


	7. Public Humiliation

**Public Humiliation**

The next night of the performance was even worse. Queen Emousabeth returned with all her dignitaries and her special guest, the Queen of Ratdom. Half my classmates were also in the audience, along with all half a dozen of the Ancients (again). The third night, all of them had returned, and in addition to foreign dignitaries, several members of the military, and even more of the police force, the MMC was there, filming the production for one of their programs!

Arthur was a nervous wreck. "I can't do it! I can't go back out there!"

"Got the fidgets?" Sarah teased.

"You'd have the fidgets too if you had to appear before the MMC in a pair of fake wings!" he answered.

"Man, if they're filming this, we're going to be the laughing stock of the entire city!" Vince complained. "I don't want to make headlines in every newspaper!"

"It's okay," I assured them. "Everyone is here because of how good we are. If we weren't able to do this, they wouldn't have come back. We wouldn't have become famous if we were bad actors or if the show was a complete flop, so let's just give them a performance they won't forget!"

It was one they wouldn't forget alright. Arthur was so nervous that he forgot half his lines, so he was almost stuttering. Frank started drinking his pink lemonade so fast that he started choking during "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind," and Vince had to hit him between the shoulders a few times while talking about how hard life was with Basil as an opponent. John fell off the stage (right into the orchestra pit) during his dance number, and to make sure he was okay, Pixie jumped off the stage and hugged him. The robot prop fell to pieces when Titus accidentally broke the controls. As if things weren't bad enough, the CD of sound effects for Toby and Felicia malfunctioned during the Buckingham Palace scene, and for the rest of the performance, there were barks and meows during the most unusual times.

The most humiliating moment for me was when the mousetrap didn't work properly. The fake springs landed on my neck, the toy gun ended up pointed at my head, the foam arrow landed about where my heart would be, the papier-mâché ax fell straight across my middle, and the cardboard anvil fell right on top of me.

Vince saved me. Seeing my plight, he rushed onstage and stepped forward.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is precisely what would have happened to the legendary Basil of Baker Street if I had succeeded in outwitting him," he began, "but he released the trap, so the springs fell across the metal ball instead of killing him. The gun misfired, causing the arrow to be released in a way that allowed the ax to cut the ropes without harming either of my victims. When the anvil fell, it landed between the two mice, and the force of it hitting the ground was enough to free the girl from the bottle."

Seeing that John and I had managed to drag ourselves out from under the mess, Vince left the stage so we could say our lines and finish the scene.

To my surprise, we were still congratulated after the play. The audience members claimed that Arthur's stuttering and forgetfulness made him more like the real Fidget, Vince smacking Frank on the back while complaining about Basil was "good foreshadowing and really showed how much they hated each other if Ratigan would use one of his own men as a stand-in for the detective," the robot symbolized Ratigan's own undoing, John falling off the stage and being hugged by Pixie was "very realistic," and "the scene with the mousetrap was an excellent visual of what would have happened!"

Even the MMC loved it!


	8. Cast Party

**Cast Party**

"What was your favorite part?" Pixie asked as she brought us all a bowl of popcorn.

"The cast party!" I answered without hesitation.

She hugged me. "I'm so glad you could come, Barrie! You need real friends who won't get you arrested! I'll be your friend!"

"I'm not going to lie; it was kind of funny when Barrie's scene messed up!" Vince stated. "It wasn't funny at the time, but it's one of those memories that makes you laugh when you look back later. I guess Ratigan finally triumphed over Basil!"

We all laughed at his joke.

Pixie hugged Vincent. "I don't know how you managed to be so mean! You're just so nice in real life!"

"I am never performing again!" Arthur remarked.

Titus nodded. "I hear you!"

"You said it!" agreed Sarah.

John didn't say anything. He just accepted the glass of lemonade that Frank offered him.

I also made up my mind that even though I had a great time and made a lot of new friends, I'm never getting involved in community theater again. As a result, when I go to school each day, I ignore the posters announcing auditions for "Romouso and Julirat."


End file.
